Et tu, Enobaria?
by flowerninja34
Summary: "They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love." Katniss broke her promise to kill Snow, and now Johanna wants to take matters into her own hands. Turns out, she's not the only one seeking revenge.


**Author's Note: Just a short one-shot I wrote on a whim. Please enjoy and review! :)**

After the Girl on Fire sent her arrow flying into President Coin, all hell broke loose.

Soldiers swarmed in on her. The crowd went wild trying to get a glimpse. What could be the meaning of this-they muttered in uproar-was Everdeen a traitor? Had she been secretly working for Snow all along? Did she forget all about her dear sister and all the other rebels… And Snow, old President Snow, let out a loud sinister laugh even as blood spilled from his throat. He choked as he slumped against the post he was tied to, still madly cackling. Insane until the end. Even his madness seemed relatively tame in comparison to all the chaos.

But he could not be forgotten.

In the distance, two victors stood together, watching the old president keel over and cough blood. They hadn't the slightest clue what was happening around them, but they couldn't stay passive. They never had before.

"Katniss…she promised she would kill him for me…" Johanna muttered, her brown eyes filled with rage as she glared at the president. She knew there must've been some good motive behind the action, there _had_ to be, but no matter. She felt a sharp stab of betrayal. But Katniss wasn't there, she had been whisked off by the soldiers. Johanna couldn't seek revenge on her even if she wanted to. Which left only old Snow mere feet from her and Enobaria, the life dwindling out of him. Finally.

"Well, are you going to do something about it?" Enobaria hissed as she prodded Johanna forward. For once, the feisty brunette didn't shove back. She stepped forward, her steely gaze never straying from the President's snakelike face. The face she had spat into when she declared she would _never be a prostitute til hell freezes over_. The face that laughed as those puffy lips let out the order that killed her parents and little brother. The face that watched emotionlessly as she was tortured and shocked. Now, the dying face looked amused as Johanna approached.

Maybe, Katniss just didn't understand. She hadn't been through what Johanna had.

" _Johanna, be careful," her mother whispered, clutching on to her daughter's strong hands. Her wide brown eyes, like Johanna's but gentler, seem to quiver. "I don't like you dealing with the black market now that you're a victor…"_

" _Calm down, Mom," the brunette impatiently insisted, twisting her hand free from her mother's grip. "I've done it a bunch of times. You never cared before," she reminded bitterly._

" _We don't need it anymore," pleaded her mother. For the first time, Johanna realized how old she was-or maybe she never cared before. What used to be only a few wisps of grey hair had grown so her head was almost entirely grey. Wrinkles outlined her eyes. Her words, which were once so biting and hurtful, had turned weary and fearful. And maybe caring._

 _Johanna glanced at her bony little brother, wide brown eyes looking up at her. "Axl wants a birthday present," she said briskly, zipping up her jacket. "He's never had one before. I'll find the best for you, little buddy." She said the last sentence with a rare softness._

" _Okay," Axl replied, a little indifferently. He was utterly absorbed in fiddling with lumber scraps to make a little mini house, which he had been working on for days. Johanna gave a little rueful headshake before she closed the door behind her._

* * *

 _Johanna walked through the quiet Victor's Village in the dark, listening to the cricket sounds from the woods. A small box crudely wrapped in newspaper laid in her palm. She felt…at peace. Maybe happy, even._

 _When she reached her door, she stopped abruptly. Something was wrong. She creeped slowly to the bush where her axe was buried. Suddenly she heard an unmistakable high pitched scream, followed by a sob. Axl. Her instincts kicked in and she shoved open the door._

 _She hurled herself at the masked men, the Peacekeepers, not caring that they had guns and she was unarmed. She knew they wouldn't kill her anyway, she was too favored by the Capitol. Their rough hands shoved her but she shoved back harder as she screamed, "Get out, you bastards! Axl! I'll kill you all! Axl…." She shoved her fingers deeper into the Peacekeeper's skin, causing him to yelp and hit her with the butt of his gun. She would not be defeated, and she drove her elbows into his temple, knocking him backwards cold on the floor. She broke the nose of another and probably permanently blinded another. Meanwhile, her brother's cries had fallen silent._

 _They filed out, dragging the injured Peacekeepers and not glancing back. Johanna didn't care about the possible repercussions, didn't care if she was hanged in the square for fighting them. All she cared was that her brother was still breathing. Behind him, their mother and father lay dead. Her sweet mother who warned her not to go...her hardworking father who only ever wanted to fill his family's stomachs..._

" _Johanna…" Axl breathed softly. He was breathing rapidly, hanging on for dear life. He clutched Johanna's arm tightly, something Johanna didn't allow anyone else to do. Tears trickled down his young face, mixed with blood. "You shouldn't have gone."_

" _I know." Johanna gripped his arm even tighter. "I'm so sorry, Axl, I won't leave you ever again." Involuntary tears sprung from her eyes. She hugged her brother's frail body tightly, ignoring the gunshot in his stomach._

" _I bought you the toy electronic jabberjay you wanted," Johanna whispered. "You want it on the top of the house, right?" Axl gave a feeble nod. She crawled over to where she had dropped the tiny gift box, unwrapping it with trembling hands. She placed the elegant plastic dark bird atop the roof. This was all the stupid bird's fault. But she had to honor her brother's wish._

 _Johanna swallowed her tears. If President Snow was watching, she couldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her broken. Instead she stroked her brother's shaggy dark hair softly. "I'll make them pay for you," she announced with bitter determination as she helplessly watched the life drain out of her brother._

 _"I'll make them pay for you," echoed the electronic jabberjay._

 _Johanna stood up shakily and made her way to her parents. They both had a bloody ax buried in their stomach: President Snow mocking her. Seeing them all dead as a result of her actions, she couldn't help but weep as she caressed her mother's soft face. The room smelled like putrid blood. Like President Snow's lips when he'd had the fateful conversation with her. She could almost imagine the old man laughing all the way from the Capitol. It filled her with a rage she'd never known before. If Snow thought this would subdue her, he was very wrong._

The words rang in her head.

"Come to finish me off?" he coughed dryly. The old man looked almost pitiful, with his hands tied to a post as blood trickled out of his mouth. Almost. There was still the laugh on his face that sparked hatred in Johanna.

"Yes," Johanna snapped as she planted her feet in front of him. She glared down at him. "But it's not going to be nice and fast," she said sweetly, masking her rage. Her hungry lips curled into a smile. "It never was."

She didn't explain further, but as his snake eyes met her wide brown ones, Johanna was sure he understood. Her Games. Her family's murder. Her torture. When she wanted to just die and face hell, she hadn't been allowed to.

Again, his eyes showed no fear. The old man only chuckled more, watching the chaos unfold. "I can't say I'm surprised, Johanna," he croaked, the eyes never leaving her face. He gave a little dry repulsive laugh-couldn't the old man stop laughing? He was going to laugh his way to hell. "If it wasn't the Girl on Fire, it had to be you. The very angry axe girl," Snow mocked. More blood splattered onto the cement, covering Johanna's feet. "But look at… you. You don't have your axe. You're all alone."

"She's not alone."

Enobaria slipped beside her calmly. As if standing next to Johanna against the dying President was the most natural thing in the world. The two of them…allies? Johanna remembered all the times over the years when they had traded snide remarks and condescending comments. Johanna had brutally killed her mentee. Neither of them had shown any sympathy for each other, ever.

But at that moment, a mutual understanding passed between the two women. They felt each other's rage towards President Snow. If nothing else, they would stand together against him.

Apparently, the move shocked even old Snow. His wrinkled face betrayed a flicker of surprise. "And you, Enobaria?" He shook his head softly in disappointment. _At least he wasn't laughing_ , thought Johanna.

"Don't, 'And you, Enobaria' me," snarled Enobaria venomously. She flashed her dangerous golden pointed teeth as she stepped closer aggressively. "Look what you turned me into. A glorified killer for idiot Capitolites! I kill on my _own_ terms. Not yours. Not anybody's."

"I …. _spared…._ you," croaked President Snow. More blood trickled out of his puffy lips now, and his words became barely coherent. His eyes were no longer filled with laughter but a dying rage. Johanna had seen the same look on the betrayed many times before. "You ungrateful child…"

"Unlike all the children you made die in your Games-" Enobaria spat, her luminous eyes shooting daggers at the President, "I'm not a child anymore."

Enobaria swiftly brutally kicked the President of Panem in the stomach. Johanna followed suit with a swift kick to the head, so hard that it left a dirty footprint. Snow's laugh slowly began to fade. His head lolled over and he crumpled against the post. Enobaria crouched down in Snow's bleeding face, forcing him to look her in the eye. A vengeful smile creeped across her dark face, revealing the sharp teeth once more.

"That's for all the tributes I mentored who died in your Games," she hissed, driving her teeth in his shoulder. With all the force she could muster, with the memories of her brother's death and her shock torture in mind, Johanna drove her fist into the old man's nose. Satisfyingly, it spilled a stream of crimson blood.

Snow tried to speak, but his words were completely unintelligible now. Each time his mouth moved was only to spew more blood onto the cement. Enobaria and Johanna stepped backward, fading into the crowd. There they watched without mercy as his body convulsed and shuddered for many long minutes. Finally, it keeled over completely limp.

Enobaria turned to Johanna with a smirk, cocking her head. "Not bad for a "Capitol lapdog", huh?"

"Shut up," Johanna retorted, rolling her eyes. She couldn't help a tiny smile appear on her face. _I made him pay, Axl_. Although Snow's death was disappointingly tame compared to what she had been through, he still hadn't gotten in the last word. They had.

Enobaria seemed to read her thoughts. "I had people I cared about in Two too, you know," she announced emotionlessly as she walked away and vanished, leaving Johanna to wonder if she really ever had understood Careers.


End file.
